1. Would you like to improve your communication and / or leadership skills to accelerate your career growth?
2. Do you think you have the potential to be and do more?
3. Would you like to strike a better balance between your personal and professional life to reduce stress and increase overall well-being?
These are some of the reasons people seek a communication coach.

Communication Coaching

Coaching is a collaborative process that focuses on unlocking an individual's potential, enhancing performance, and achieving desired outcomes. By working with me as your coach, you can gain valuable insights, develop new perspectives, and receive guidance and support tailored to your specific needs and goals - professional and personal.

We start by identifying the goals or topic to focus on and finish by clarifying the personal action plans (identifying next steps).

We then engage in a guided conversation using techniques from predominantly 2 approaches: Co-active Coaching and Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP).

  • Co-active coaching uses simple frameworks that integrate learning and assist you to see yourself objectively, assess where you want to make changes, and identify strategies that are motivational for you.

  • NLP techniques also help you to see yourself objectively and make connections between what you think and believe (neurological processes - neuro), what you say (linguistic), and what you do (learned patterns through experience - programming). These casual techniques empower participants to make adjustments to achieve their specific goals.
647-269-4528 debbie@ycmatters.com
Debbie has been a huge help in my professional life. Because of our coaching sessions I feel more confident in making decisions in my career. I have learned to be a better communicator and have learned different ways to communicate depending on the situation I am in. I feel that I am a better leader and give the credit to Debbie and her coaching sessions. Thank you Debbie.

Shiraz Bhanji

Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) Consultant

Debbie is an exceptionally talented coach. She is kind, patient, and intuitive. She instills trust and the alliance with her is strong and valued.

Working with Debbie, I was able to move forward confidently. I cleared out what was holding me back, and I gained new methods for keeping myself moving forward. I highly recommend working with Debbie.

Wendy Cook

Professor and Business Coach

Common Questions about Coaching

Co-active coaching is having conversations that empower and inspire people to reach their potential and desired outcomes. It involves asking powerful questions, making observations, and various other techniques to support clients to:

  • Tap into their own wisdom

  • Challenge and evolve perspectives

  • Make significant discoveries or insights

  • Enhance productivity and reach personal and professional goals

  • Unlock and enrich self-awareness, clarity, and a sense of accountability

Who can benefit from coaching?

High potential employees who are leaders or individual contributors who:

  • Are considering and / or preparing for career advancement

  • Want to address behaviors or habits that are slowing down productivity or development

  • Want to enhance confidence, competence, and / or compassion in their leadership and communication skills

  • May not recognize, embrace, or maximize their strengths

What are your coaching qualifications?

In the last few years, to both update my coaching knowledge and skills as well as complete requirements as a credentialed coach with the ICF (International Coaching Federation), I completed the following:

  • An accredited training program of 104 hours plus over 60 hours of additional coaching training and development hours

  • A mentorship of over 10 hours

  • Over 200 hours of coaching within an 18-month period (virtual and in-person)

  • Successfully passed the coach knowledge assessment (CKA) focused on core competencies and code of ethics as a coach

Additional experience that contributes to my coaching ability include:

  • Being certified as a Birkman coach, Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner (focused on coaching), Enneagram in the Workplace professional, Fierce Conversations® and Everything DiSC in the Workplace®

  • Having written the book If I Ran this Place… Communication for Results as the result of a request from seminar participants for a resource to enrich communication skills for new managers

  • Developing and facilitating The Practical Coach, Developing Management Skills, Building Trust through Communication, and other various seminars that enrich coaching skills

  • As an Education Liaison with Bayer and Berlex pharmaceutical companies, working with subject matter experts professionals to develop educational programs for health care professionals to enrich their medical practice

  • Teaching French in the public school system for 3 years

  • Early in my career, I trained, hired, coached, and evaluated Canadian Red Cross instructors to teach swimming and small craft safety lesson

In addition, I taught swimming and small craft safety lessons to adults, teenagers, and children

I also have a bachelor's degree in education and master’s degree in Adult Education

How would you describe Co-Active Coaching?

Co-active coaching is having conversations that enhance clarity and self-awareness about how we are being (co) and what we are doing (active).

  • It’s about developing or editing current habits so we make decisions that help us reach our potential.

  • It's about getting off the ‘hamster wheel of life’ where we are running hard and fast while getting nowhere.

  • It's about creating a ‘new normal’ where we feel grounded and confident.

  • It's about recognizing that everything we do and say is determined by our internal dialogue.

  • It's about feeling empowered and recognizing that we are in charge of our own lives.

The fundamental beliefs or cornerstones of Co-Active Coaching are:

  1. That people are naturally creative, resourceful and whole. As a co-active coach, I use powerful questions, curious listening, sharing observations and various other techniques to empower clients to find their own answers to whatever challenges they face. My role is to help people recognize what is helping or hindering them in reaching their potential.

  2. Coaching involves focusing on the whole person rather then just the problem to solve. Our thinking, feeling, and reacting patterns are intertwined in our whole life. No topic exists in isolation. A decision in one area of our lives impacts or creates ripples in other aspects.

  3. Coaches dance in the moment which means the conversation is a dynamic exchange which is not scripted. To be effective, coaches listen at many levels - paying attention to what is said and what is not said. to guide the flow and direction of the conversation. My role is to stay present, share my observations when appropriate, and ask powerful questions.

  4. Coaching involves evoking transformation. Although the conversation topics and goals are specific, coaching encourages self-awareness and growth. We connect the goals and insights with the bigger picture and reaching full potential.

The 3 core principles of co-active coaching include fulfillment, process, and balance. As a coach we used tools from each of these principles according to the conversation.

Fulfillment coaching is about guiding people to discover and clarify their unique values, identify self-defeating influences, and create a personalized vision for a compelling future. This coaching principle enhances confidence and competence in decision making, clarifies values, and sorts out what is getting in their way of reaching their potential. 

Balance coaching is guiding people to make powerful life choices – to have experiences that they want rather than moving through life mindlessly and at the mercy of circumstances. When people say that they want more balance in life, they feel a bit trapped. They want to feel that they are choosing their life, not just reacting to it. This involves developing new perspectives and creating a plan of action that is meaningful. It’s about getting in tune with what to do and what to say no to.

Process coaching is about supporting clients as they navigate through emotionally charged issues. Its about helping people to process through uncomfortable chaos or confusion so they can move forward.

How do I know if coaching is a fit?

Coaching is a fit for people who want support to come up with their own answers. Coaching focuses on empowering people to use their own wisdom. Coaching is NOT:

  • Giving advise, mentoring, or providing technical insights

  • ‘Fixing’ – Clients decide on the conversation topic and are supported to better understanding how their choices relate to their results

  • Therapy or counselling which focuses on processing and healing past experiences - coaching focuses on the present and future
647-269-4528 debbie@ycmatters.com